NEWSBRIEFS (05/07/00)

NEWSBRIEFS

Top officers fired over stray missile

KYIV - Defense Minister Oleksander Kuzmuk has dismissed Missile Forces and Artillery Commander Lt. Gen. Volodymyr Tereschenko and Col. Heorhii Korneyev, head of the control group for the missile forces, Reuters reported on April 30. Gen. Kuzmuk said they were responsible for the accident in which a missile fired from a training ground in Chernihiv Oblast hit an apartment block in Kyiv and killed three people. He also demoted the first deputy commander of Ukraine's Northern Operational Command, Lt. Gen. Valerii Pashynskyi, for "the poor organization of the exercises and for deceiving the Defense Ministry." The missile forces initially reported that the missile had hit its target, located at another training ground near Kyiv. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Experts urge ban on missile tests

KYIV - A group of non-government experts appealed to the Ukrainian government to ban the testing of any missiles near nuclear and other power stations, large bodies of water and major cities, ITAR-TASS reported on April 26. The appeal came after a missile veered off course and killed three people while wounding five others in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary. (RFE/RL Newsline)

New visa requirements for Slovakia

KYIV - Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry has notified Slovakia that, as of June 28, Slovaks entering Ukraine will need visas, the TASR news agency reported on May 2. Kyiv's decision is in response to the previous week's announcement by Bratislava that it will demand visas from Ukrainians beginning June 28. Slovakia is coordinating its visa policy with the Czech Republic, which is to cancel its visa-free arrangement with Russia and Belarus at the end of this month. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Leftists hold separate May Day rallies

KYIV - Some 2,500 people took part in a May Day demonstration organized in the Ukrainian capital by the Communist Party and the Peasants Party. Communist leader Petro Symonenko called on Ukrainian workers to unite in the struggle against "the capitalist system that destroys Ukraine's people, statehood and future," Interfax reported. Some 4,000 people participated in May Day celebrations organized by the Social Democratic Party (United). And a third leftist rally to mark May Day in Kyiv was organized by the Progressive Socialist Party led by Natalia Vitrenko. The rally, which attracted 500 people, adopted a resolution calling on the government to break all ties between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund, and on the Constitutional Court to declare the results of the April 16 constitutional referendum illegal. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Symferopol leftists show unified front

SYMFEROPOL - "Many thousands" took part in a May Day march and meeting in Symferopol, Interfax reported. The meeting was organized by Crimean trade unions, the Communist Party and other leftist organizations on the peninsula. The participants pledged in a resolution to spare no effort to create a "single economic area" on the entire post-Soviet territory and to give Russian the status of an official language in Ukraine. The celebrations were attended by Crimea's prime minister, the chairman of Crimea's Parliament and other officials. (RFE/RL Newsline)

World Bank warns of renationalization

KYIV - A group of World Bank experts have concluded that a Ukrainian plan to reform the country's energy sector could lead to the renationalization of energy companies there, Interfax reported on April 27. The plan, which the experts characterized as ineffective, could make these firms less profitable and thus less attractive to outside investors. Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko responded that Kyiv had improved its plan in response to earlier World Bank criticism. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine's energy debt restructured

KYIV - Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's vice prime minister in charge of the energy sector, told ITAR-TASS on April 27 that Kyiv and Gazprom have agreed to restructure Ukraine's debt for Russian gas over the next three years. She said Kyiv is exploring the possibility of extending that restructuring period over five years. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yuschenko has no plans to resign

KYIV - Vladimir Litvin, chief of the Ukrainian presidential administration, told ITAR-TASS on April 27 that Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko has not submitted his resignation, despite rumors that he had done so. "No one knows where the reports of this kind come from," Mr. Litvin said, but he did not rule out the possibility that the rumors had been spread by those who want to force the prime minister out. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv mayor warns of grain shortages

KYIV - Mayor Oleksander Omelchenko of Kyiv told Interfax on April 27 that his city will run out of grain this summer unless it receives supplies from state reserves. Mr. Omelchenko appealed to the Verkhovna Rada to release half of the country's grain reserves to support Kyiv's needs. He said that the shortages had been triggered by the purchases of Kyiv-subsidized bread by those from other regions of the country where bread is not subsidized. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada to consider constitutional changes

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on April 27 sent to the Verkhovna Rada a draft bill to amend the Constitution according to the wishes of the voters that were expressed in the April 16 referendum, the Associated Press reported. The measures, which include reducing the size of the Verkhovna Rada from 450 to 300 seats, creating an appointed upper house, and lifting national deputies' immunity, face significant opposition in the Parliament. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Landsbergis seeks review of trade accord

KYIV - In Kyiv on an official visit, Lithuanian Parliament Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis told President Leonid Kuchma that trade relations between the two countries need to be reviewed and improved, ITAR-TASS reported on April 27. Mr. Landsbergis said there are some "misunderstandings" between the two countries and that these have cost Lithuanian firms more than $500,000 in unfair duties, the Associated Press reported. Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko said Kyiv will address this trade dispute in the near future. Mr. Kuchma also told Mr. Landsbergis: "I can assert that our strategic goal is membership in the European Union," and added that Ukraine is only an associate member of the Commonwealth of Independent States. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Iran to build AN-140 planes

KYIV - Iranian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Sadeq Kharrazi and Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk announced in Ukraine on April 27 that the two countries will begin to assemble AN-140 planes in Iran later this year, ITAR-TASS reported. The AN-140 is intended to replace the older AN-24. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Belarusians march on April 26

MIENSK - More than 10,000 people marched from Miensk's center toward Bangalore Square without incident on April 26 to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the Chornobyl accident, ITAR-TASS reported. Some of the demonstrators carried placards calling for Belarusian independence and opposing union with Russia. Meanwhile, Belarusian police broke up a small demonstration staged by the Belarus Conservative Christian Party at Yakub Kolos Square, the DPA news agency reported. Four participants were reportedly beaten and one was arrested. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lukashenka lashes out at protesters

KYIV - Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on April 26 that the opposition march in Miensk "will be reduced to chanting 'Belarus in Europe without Luka!' That is the only slogan they carry in the street," Reuters reported. Speaking at a helicopter pad in southern Belarus, he added that the demonstrators will assemble "after snacks and a substantial drink and having received Western help - for this money they will march in crowds." (RFE/RL Newsline)

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